23 Jan Why Don’t More Christians Take Meditation Seriously?
BIBLICAL MEDITATION IS THE GATEWAY TO MENTAL RENEWAL
Scripture speaks clearly of the value of meditation.
Psalm 1 promises that if we meditate on the Bible day and night, we will be “like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”
If you ask any Christian if he would like to be healthy, productive, and prosper unfailingly, he would certainly say “yes!” Yet the typical American Christian does not meditate on Scripture. Why is that?
Well, clearly, we don’t really believe it! Or, perhaps we have never grasped it clearly enough to believe. In my past experience, there have been three reasons why I did not meditate regularly.
- I was not exactly sure how to do it.
- I was not sure it would work as well for me as it had for others.
- I tried it, found it hard, and quit before I saw the results.
I have spent most of my Christian life unconvinced of the value of meditation. It was something you could do if you were super-spiritual, but it was not connected to a practical Christian life. It was okay if you wanted to navel-gaze in a spiritual context, but if you wanted to accomplish something for the Lord, you could pray and get to work.
On top of that, the people I was mentored by, who made the greatest personal impact on me, said almost nothing about meditating. Historically, it has not been part of mainstream Christian behavior. But I’m hoping to put a different twist on it in the hopes that if meditation has the same hurdles for you as it did for me, it might seem more compelling.
I am convinced that as time moves on and we move deeper and deeper into more hostile cultural territory for Christians, mental renewal strategies, including meditation, will be the key that will enable Christians not to be swept away by the riptide of modern culture.
It is important, however, to stress there is a major difference between non-Christian and Christian meditation.
- In Eastern religions, new age, and secular meditation, the goal is to empty the mind. In Christian meditation, the goal is to fill the mind.
- In non-Christian meditation, you focus on breathing, exhaling, repeating a single syllable and other similar things. In Christian meditation you focus on Scripture, God, his ways, his wonders, his truth.
- In non-Christian meditation, the goal is inner calm and emotional peace. In Christian meditation, the goal is greater Christlikeness and closer communion with God.
Science speaks compellingly of the value of meditation.
The Internet showcases articles from Mayo Clinic, The Harvard Medical School, and Stanford University on the scientifically verified benefits of meditation.
There was a recent excellent summary article in Forbes Magazine that overviewed the most significant current findings in science: 7 Ways Meditation Can Actually Change The Brain by Alice G. Walton. (Feb. 9, 2015)
- Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain
A study from UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than non-meditators as they aged.
- Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”
Yale University found that mindfulness meditation decreases mind-wandering, typically associated with being less happy, ruminating, and worrying about the past and future.
- Meditation May Lead to Volume Changes in Key Areas of the Brain
Harvard found that mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain including an increase in cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and in certain areas of the brain that play roles in emotion regulation and self-referential processing.
- Just a Few Days of Meditation Training Improves Concentration and Attention
Having problems concentrating isn’t just a kid thing – it affects millions of grown-ups as well, with an ADD diagnosis or not. Interestingly but not surprisingly, one of the central benefits of meditation is that it improves attention and concentration.
- Meditation Reduces Anxiety
A lot of people start meditating for its benefits in stress reduction, and there’s lots of good evidence to support this rationale. Studies have shown its benefits in reducing anxiety, even years after an initial 8-week course.
- Meditation Can Help with Addiction
A growing number of studies has shown that meditation can be very effective in helping people recover from various types of addiction.
Personal benefits of biblical meditation
There are mighty promises given to the person who masters the Bible so well that the Bible masters him, through reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on Scripture:
- Our prayers are more consistently answered (John 15:7),
- We have more wisdom than our enemies, more insight than our teachers, and more understanding than the aged (Psalm 119:97-100),
- We have greater power over sin (Psalm 119:11),
- We have comfort in affliction (Psalm 119:50),
- We have guidance along life’s way and insight into God’s will (Psalm 119:105)
- We are promised prosperity and success in our life’s undertakings (Joshua 1:8),
Beyond this, what has been life-changing for me is to grasp that the process of sanctification includes the process of taking truth through the brain often enough that…
- New neurological pathways are created
- New neurological pathways are connected to other existing pathways
- New memories are stored
- Information is driven to the subconscious where we start seeing things we didn’t see before
- The subconscious starts changing our true attitudes, values and behavior
- The subconscious bubbles up to the conscious brain new thoughts, ideas, and actions, multiplying the impact
Do you want to be more than you are? Biblical meditation is the gateway to mental renewal.
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